Manchester United certainly cant be accused of not supporting their new manager, Erik ten Hag, given the players theyre going for in the transfer market.Granted, thats more about how United are primarily being linked with players Ten Hag knows or has previously coached rather than themtargeting a host of renowned superstars.Whether that suggests a certain trust in Ten Hag or if it comes down to a lack of belief in the clubs own scouting department is a discu sion for another time, but clearly Ten Hag is being allowed to build a team in his image, and thats what many fans will have hoped for.The first one in through the door is Tyrell Malacia, who joins from Eredivisie side Feyenoord on a four-year contract with an option for a further season.Netherlands international Malacia had apparently been close to joining Lyon until United came in at the last minute, but once the Red Devils interest became apparent, there was only likely to be one Anthony Harris Jersey destination: Old Trafford.But what sort of player are United getting? Stats Perform takes a look Exit loomingfor Telles? When considering the areas United needed to strengthen ahead of the new season, left-back might not have been highlighted as a major cause for concern, therefore some are likely to feel Malacias signing isnt nece sary.But most would agree Luke Shaw endured a generally poor season, and his deputy Alex Telles seemingly wasnt good enough to fully dislodge the England international. Then you have Brandon Williams, who has returned from a loan spell at Norwich City but will in all likelihood be sold.One would a sume Malacias arrival will lead to another sale at left-back as well, and thatll presumably be Telles rather Ron Jaworski Jersey than Shaw, who will be expected to get back to the level he showed in the 2020-21 season.Shaw has responded well to competition before. In fact, his excellent 2020-21 campaign coincided with Uniteds signing of Telles, but perhaps he took his foot off the pedal once he realised the Brazilian wasnt likely to be a long-term threat to his place.Malacia could be.At 22, Malacia is youthful and boasts a skillset that may make him a greater understudy and challenger to Shaw than Telles.Already a Netherlands international, Malacia is quick, comfortable on the ball and had an impre sive output in attack last season. Telles, on the other hand, isnt especially fast and his final-third threat relies on cro ses from deep.Full-backs performed an important function for Ten Hags Ajax. Their underlapping runs make them potential threats in the box, while those at his disposal in Amsterdam po se sed excellent technical abilities, helping the team to Dallas Goedert Jersey maintain control of po se sion even out wide, a little like at Manchester City.Such a role certainly shouldnt faze Malacia considering his pace and technique.A considered threat Malacias technical ability and speed are probably his two most obvious attributes, though neither are especially easy to prove with numbers.Of course, its difficult to accurately and fairly compare players acro s two hugely different competitions just using stats, but you can at least get an idea of what a player offers.Malacias 1.1 open-play chances created every 90 minutes in the Eredivisie last season was the 10th highest among defenders (minimum of 1,000 minutes played). That was the same as Shaws, though the latter was obviously playing in a league generally regarded to be a higher level.Despite that frequency not being especially remarkable, Malacia did lay on four a sists, and his 6.0 expected a sists (xA) was bettered by only four Eredivisie defenders.So although he wasnt nece sarily creating a huge amount of opportunities, those he did craft had an average xA value of 0.16 of the defenders with at least 18 key pa ses, only Daley Blind (0.27), Nou sair Mazraoui (0.19) and Yukinari Sugawara (0.17) created better chances on average.Similarly, Malacias xA output on a per-90-minute basis of 0.19 was higher than that of Shaw (0.14) and Telles (0.11).Both of the xA averages mentioned for Malacia highlight and can be partly explained by how he attacks. He recorded 2.7 touches in the oppositions box every 90 minutes Devonta Smith T Shirts last term (fifth among Eredivisie defenders), whereas Shaw (1.1) and Telles (1.0) were far le s willing to get into that area.As such, of his 5.0 pa ses into the box each game, only 3.0 were cro ses. Those respective figures for Shaw (5.9/5.7) and Telles (7.6/7.3) show a far greater reliance on hopeful cro ses.Again, specific coaching instructions may explain the figures of Shaw and Telles, so the data isnt suggesting any one is better than the others, but its still easy to see why Ten Hag might feel Malacia is a good fit as one of his underlapping full-backs.Malacia also tallied more tackle attempts (2.7), tackles won (1.8) and duels (11.0) compared to Shaw (1.1, 0.7 and 8.2) and Telles (2.4, 1.3 and 9.8).As before, these dont nece sarily mean hes a better defender because the context of the two leagues and the respective teams playing styles make it difficult to draw such conclusions, but Malacias figures do at least point to a certain level of tenacity off the ball.Regardle s of the numbers, it seems clear United are taking a Reid Sinnett Jersey bit of a gamble with Malacia. Although obviously talented, he is young, inexperienced and joining a team that cannot claim to have much stability.Nothing about United over the past decade has suggested its a club that succe sfully nurtures young players anymore. Even when you look at the succe s stories such as Marcus Rashford, hes not appeared happy for a while.The fact Malacia has seemingly been signed upon the request of his manager rather than a glorified accountant on the board is undoubtedly a tick in the pros column, but only time will tell if that trust in Ten Hag is well-placed.